RANCHOD HOSPICE: A COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO AIDS by Winstone Zulu
Mary Chidgey at Ranchod’s mobile clinic.
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anchod Hospice is situated in the small impoverished town of Kabwe, north of the Zambian capital city, Lusaka. The town was once a thriving zinc and lead mining centre, but after the liberalization of the economy in the early 1990s, the industry collapsed. Almost overnight, most of the other industries that were auxiliary to the mines also went under. As the state of the economy worsened in the town, the AIDS epidemic took root, which in turn fuelled the spread of poverty. By the year 2000, fewer than one in 20 adults held any meaningful employment and the HIV/TB co-infection rate was the highest in the province. The main hospital and other smaller health facilities often had no drugs and there were widespread shortages of doctors and nurses. Whenever there was an emergency, such as a bus accident, terminally ill persons – many of whom were AIDS patients – were immediately discharged to make room for the new casualties.
10 GRassroots
Ranchod Hospice was set up to respond to patients who urgently needed extended palliative care. The hospice was spearheaded by Mary Chidgey, an Irish retired nurse, together with a couple of Zambian nurses, some of whom were on leave from their government jobs. But the backbone of the work at the hospice is carried out by 87 volunteer community caregivers. These were mainly women who had no previous training, could not read or write, but had a big heart to help comfort the patients. Some were also living with HIV. Through basic training, they learned how to feed, bathe, change and nurture the patients. For 24 hours, seven days a week, they were on call — responding to the needs of their patients. And they continue their tireless work today — providing services that help to save thousands of lives. Ranchod Hospice has 25 beds, but that is only part of the support they provide to the community. Dotted all over the town and its outskirts, the volunteers visit patients in their huts,
There was a time when grassroots organizations apologetically explained that they were only around to complement governments’ activities. It is time to acknowledge that these grassroots organizations are creating an impact that no government in the region can do without.
© Liz Marshall / SLF
© Hartley Wynberg / SLF
providing much of the same care as they do in the hospice. Every month they reach hundreds of patients with medicines, food, care and love. For many people in the outlying areas of Kabwe, Ranchod’s homecare team is the only healthcare system available to them. These volunteers are not teams of “experts”who carry out so-called ‘needs assesment’ surveys and analyses. They are women and men who live within the community and know, through everyday experience, when to provide food or medicine to a patient. Through their energy, commitment and compassion, they are changing the course of this pandemic.
Winstone Zulu is a renowned Zambian AIDS activist and a founding member of Kara Counselling’s Positive and Living Squad (PALS). He lives in Kabwe, Zambia and is currently advising the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Toronto.